MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - A magistrate's court, at a session at Moscow's Babushkinsky Court on Saturday, found Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny guilty of slandering World War II veteran Ignat Artyomenko, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courtroom.
"Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny committed an act of slander [...]," Judge Vera Akimova said as she began pronouncing the court ruling.
The court believes that the opposition activist "maliciously intended to publish information undermining the reputation of the aggrieved party."
"Alexei Navalny knew for certain that the information disseminated by him was false [...]. Navalny's criminal actions caused moral damage to the veteran of the Great Patriotic War," the judge said.